Feeding puppy food or adult food

Hello. I have been reading posts trying to decide what to do about the food for my gal Lucy. Lucy will be 7 months in a couple of days and weighs approximately 50 lbs. She is eating large breed puppy Science Diet, when we got her the breeder had her on Nutro but as Lucy got bigger she didn't "appear" to like the bite size so we search for a large breed food with a bigger kibble which is how we came to Science Diet. Anyway, our vet tells us we can go ahead and switch over to adult food at this time, the breeder tells us to wait until she is at least a year. She has been spayed and so I do worry about her gaining too much weight. I feed her twice a day 2 cups in the moring 2 1/2 cups at night. I would also like to give her the best so if I make the switch to adult large breed feed what is the highest recommended brand?

In closing I would like to thank you all for being here. I thought I had the worst dog, jumping, biting, wouldn't go off the patio without me. After reading lots of posts I discover I am not alone! Thanks!

You could always do a combo of puppy food and adult food. Use it like you are switching over. 3/4 of puppy to 1/4 of adult and stretch out the length of time you change over to all adult.
She's got so much energy that I wouldn't worry too much about her getting fat. On the flip side, Puppy food is usually a higher protein so it could be making her more hyper.

I've been sitting in the middle of this fight between 2 very respectable breeders so even the people who have been doing this for longer than I've been alive can't agree what is best!!

I think you might have to experiment a bit until you find a good ratio. The only thing that I will say 100% is not to feed her all puppy food until a year. Definitely start mixing in adult food.

hi im in the same situation as you ....my baby is about 6 1/2 months old...she's 60lbs and Im wondering if i should switch her to adult food or keep with puppy food.... also wondering what kind of food to put her on ...she is also on science diet right now....however her poohs are always 'soft' ....is this reallly a good brand...oh and we feed her 5 cups a day and she is spaded too.....some people say purina pro plan!! awwww help

Hi! Fozzie started to have consistent soft poops. The vet suggested we switch him from Nutro Puppy to Nutro Adult when he was about 7 months. He's been on adult for 2 months and is doing much better

My dog started at around 4 months, I believe, and she is very tall (not good). I think she would have been even taller with joint issues if I continued to feed her puppy food until she was a year old. Puppy food gives them an unnecessary amount of protein and fat. There is a belief that is makes them grow faster than their body is capable of keeping up with, leading to joint issues and arthritis later down the road. This isn't to say that your (or my) dog wouldn't have these issues later down the line, but I believe there things we can do to slow down the process. Many people believe in keeping their dogs on puppy food for at least six months, and just as many who believe you should keep your dog on for a year. I think if your vet has examined your dog and has suggested going on adult food... you should consider it.

Be sure to note that JUST because your dog goes on adult food, does not mean you should start feeding adult food amounts. Your puppy needs more food, so stick to the amount you would feed if he/she was on puppy food. Hope that makes sense if you choose to switch.

thanks for all the advice...i think i will switch her to adult food too....my breeder did recommend that ....however the vet didn't ....so now i just have to decide what kind of food to have :

Science Diet
Nutro
Purina Pro Plan

These seem to be the top3 picks .....again still confused so any more advice would be appreciated ..thanks!!

Molly is 10 months now, and I just started on her first adult food, they are growing an they need the puppy food until they are “grown” .

Bingley is on adult food, too, but as we have switched him to Flint River Ranch their food is formulated for both puppies and adults.

Same situation here. We feed everyone (dogs that is!) Canidae. It is formulated to be a whole life food. They are all doing wonderful in the past year we have switched to it.

Hello, Thank everyone for the many replies. I have decided to start the switch over to adult dog food and which brought on the next question what is the best? After calling two feed stores in our area (not a petsmart or petco) was told the best to give would be Eagle Pack Holistic Select for large breeds. Has anyone ever heard of this food? One feed store told me that they wouldn't even carry Nutro which I always thought was the top of the line. I know I need to watch fat and protein levels, anything else I should watch for? Don't want to go through the whole switch to another food only to discover it's not working for her. I do want smaller/firmer stools if possible but most importently I want the best for our girl.

Thanks!

Unless your dog is overweight, which it doesn't sound like that is the case, I don't think I'd switch to adult just yet. I don't think it will hurt if you do though either so I guess it's a matter of personal preference.

Science Diet is definitely not a great quality food... if your local pet supply stores have breeders cards on a board or something I'd call a few of them and ask what they prefer and why.

I am currently feeding my dogs purina pro plan, which is also not a top of the line food, but they seem to be doing ok on it. I think their skin has become slightly dry on it though so I'm going to supplement.

They did great on Iams, which is definitely no longer a top of the line food... but I never had any problems feeding it for years.

I think it all comes down to whatever YOUR dog does well on

I've been feeding dogs Nutro for years.....Bosley had it both Puppy and now as an adult.

His stool is a bit soft for my liking, though, so I've been thinking of giving Pro Plan a shot...

I think our next Nutro bag is free, though...so I have time to think about it.

Willowsprite wrote:

I am currently feeding my dogs purina pro plan, which is also not a top of the line food, but they seem to be doing ok on it. I think their skin has become slightly dry on it though so I'm going to supplement.

funny. ever since i got on pro plan, yuki's skin has gotten dry too. i'm seeing a few flakes. i just started back up on linatone.

Yeah, linatone is what I'm going to try too... it always worked well for cats I've had in the past with dry skin...

Quote:

I've been feeding dogs Nutro for years.....Bosley had it both Puppy and now as an adult.

His stool is a bit soft for my liking, though

I think Nutro is GREAT, and what I always recommend to other pet owners, but I also experienced the softer stool (than what I would have liked/was used to with her).

I also use the Pro Plan for sensitive stomach and I think it is great. Not only is there a lot less poop(with 3 dogs that is a big plus!) their stool is firmer too. Another plus is they like it. Merlin used to be a finicky eater....I think he just didn't like the other food. Now he eats every bit of his 'dinner'
I haven't seen that it makes my dogs skin any drier. Merlin already had dry flaky skin and that is what made me change from the food I was feeding (Performatrim) to Pro Plan. The ingredients in Pro Plan looked healthier than the ingredients in the other food. The food has Omega 3 and is salmon: that should be plenty of oil for their skin. Maybe the dryness is from having the heat on in the house now. I've never tried a supplement for the dogs before. I wouldn't know what to look for in one.

I found mine did fantastic on the salmon formula as well, but I just couldn't stand the smell of it anymore, before and after, yuck!

yes, yes, yes!!!! You can always smell a new bag when I open it. Smells fishy, and then the few times Yuki has gas... well, the smell is quite familiar

I don't mind the smell of the salmon food. And my dogs' poop smells a lot less with this food than the previous food and while we are on the subject....Avalon who used to be extremely gassy....well the new food must agree with her more because we have noticed that the house smells a lot better

Maybe there's more to be said for cheap old Iams My dogs did well, didn't have dry skin, never had gas, had the smallest firmest poops of any food they've been on....
I had orginally switched to pro plan when we got Panda, because that's what she had been on. All the dogs have gained weight on it though. Dancer is kind of chunky now, Sky gained too, she wasn't thin, but what she gained doesn't hurt either. Panda has always been the pickiest eater I've ever known and I had to cook for her for months, but I don't anymore. Even though I liked how they did on Iams, I do know it is mostly corn now, filler. Also, Iams isn't as readily available now as it used to be, no pet supply stores carry it because they don't make any money on it. (Iams insists they keep the prices low, so in some cases because of shipping the store actually loses money)

Quote:

Maybe there's more to be said for cheap old Iams Laughing My dogs did well, didn't have dry skin, never had gas, had the smallest firmest poops of any food they've been on....

I'm just going to sit on your shoulder and echo everything.

Uh huh. Same here. I liked everything about iams. Smallest turds (firm), great skin, no gas, perfect! I only switched because she had so many other issues, which turned out to be lice not her food. But I'm afraid to go through the cycle of changing food again since she isn't itching as much now.

I tried Iams a few different times in the past, (like over the past 10-15 yrs or so) and I hated it each time. I always have fed it to lots of dogs and several different breeds, so I can rule out the individual dog just being finicky or sensitive to a particular food. Most noticable was dogs being more gassy and more stools. They all liked eating it, except 1, and he IS finicky.
With my last food change, I did a bunch of research and read ingredient labels. Read LOTS of labels! I made a list and ranked ingredients, cost and availability in my area. I ended up with the best food that my dogs liked and did well on for what I was able/willing to pay.

Regarding the Eagle Pack - I have 1 friend who uses it and likes it. I think it is the holistic for large breeds too.

Nutro is a better high end food for the money. I work at a Boarding/Daycare/Grooming facility and we recommend Nutro to a lot of people who would like to feed their dog a healthier food but don't want to pay the high end price. There are a lot of more natural and healthier foods out there it just depends on how much you want to spend and their availability in your area. I've found that Petsmart doesn't have as large of a variety of higher end foods but Petco has a whole section. Just read the ingredients list and you will find a lot out about the food. Avoid things that end in by-products. Things like chicken meal are good for them. Dogs are made to eat meat, not so much grains. A lot of dogs are allergic to wheat and corn. The first 5 ingredients are the most important and it's good to try and find one where the first 3 are meats. There's lots of material out their on canine nutrition, you just have to read up on it. There are many books out there that you can buy and they will tell you exactly what is good to have in your dogs food and what is not. Hope you find a good food for you dog!!!

As far as Nutro goes be aware there are different levels of quality. I use the Ultra, which is the best Nutro makes and my dogs love.

MeganCV88 wrote:

Nutro is a better high end food for the money. I work at a Boarding/Daycare/Grooming facility and we recommend Nutro to a lot of people who would like to feed their dog a healthier food but don't want to pay the high end price.

I don't mean this as a response necessarily to this poster, but when I hear people say that they don't want to spend "high end" prices, I always think that's pretty ridiculous since the difference between a mediocre food and a good food is about $10-$15 a bag--and when I say mediocre, I mean something in the Iams or cheaper Nutros, not Pedigree or Ol' Roy, I know that's a bit more of a jump. If you're feeding a few dogs, and you're poor, I guess that can add up fast but, with a single dog, seriously, you can't cough up a few bucks more a month for your dog? And if you are poor with multiple dogs, that's a whole other lecture...

I have just put Summer on Junior food, James Wellbeloved. I am going to keep her on really good food until she is at least 12 months then find a slightly cheaper one

I've fed, and do periodically feed (I rotate), Eagle Holistic and I like it a lot. Rated well, too. My dogs agree.

Kristine

I use Purina One Sensitive Systems, salmon with very little "extras"

My vet recommended stopping puppy food at 6 months. His "opinion" is that for large breeds puppy food is too high in protein which can cause bone growth to out grow muscles and create problems.

There is a book by Ann Martin called "Foods Pets Die For" or something similar that is quite an eye opener. It is to some degree sensationalized but still worth reading.

We have been feeding our 6 month puppy Purina Pro Plan Large/Robust Chicken & Rice, but he is soooo full of energy ALL the time. He wants to play constantly even with TWO 1 hour walks (mostly running) a day.

He does not have any dry skin issues, his poop starts off firm at the beginning of the day, getting gradually runnier as the day goes on. His last poops are kinda like mousse LOL.

Do you think we should switch brands? Is he hyper because of the food or because he is a sheepie puppy?

Other than these issues we have no problems with the food, he always eats it all (two large cups a day, one in the morning, one in the evening)

Our dogs are totally on all natural Canidae - good for whole life, all ages which is important in this house. We are through with trying other things. We nearly lost a dog on Iams when Proctor and Gamble first bought them out. Recently, a neighbor gave us a bad of Purina Pro Plan which I careful mixed small amounts into their Canidae. Big mistake! Very soft stools, nearly diarhea. Yes, quality food does cost more but you don't have to feed quite as much and it is worth it to have healthy dogs. Ours range in sizes from 8 lbs. to 70 lbs, puppy to adult and it works very well for all.

I feed Canidae too. I have to buy two kinds though, as my older (3 1/2) female is a bit overweight since her spay. We are going to increase her activity, so maybe she can go back on the regular later. We still have some dry skin, so I am supplementing with fish oil caps.

We just added a Black Labrador Retriever to our family. We have been feeding him Wellness Large Breed Puppy food, and he is doing great. I sincerely recommend paying the extra for Wellness or California Natural foods. Our vet was very pleased with the choice and said that Wellness is one of only 3 companies in the United States that has their bakeries certified by some important organization; I cannot recall the name--sorry. The other company is California Natural, and again, I can't recall the 3rd company--sorry. Anyway, if you look at the ingredients of Wellness or California Natural, it is very simple and holistic. Also, with a high-quality food you can expect healthy skin and hair, and less waste which means less stools.

My 6 month old yellow lab (purebred) has a very sensitive stomach. She had almost constant diarrhea while on Purina Pro Plan Large Breed Puppy so, after many long conversations with my vet and prescription diets, we discovered that Hill's Science Diet Lamb and Rice Large Breed keeps her stools firm. I think every puppy/dogs diet should be determined by their interactions with different food, as I also have a 7 year-old German Shepherd who can only eat Iams Lamb and Rice (another troubled stomach). On another note, my 4 year-old Puggle (designer dog; cross between a Pug and a Beagle) can eat anything without so much as indigestion.

As to puppy vs. dog food, the size matters more (large breed vs. toy, ect.). After about 7 months, puppy is only important if your puppy is under-developed. After too long a time, puppy food can even become harmful. Again, something you and your vet should discuss.

In reply to puppy v. adult food, the significance is in the calcium. Too much calcium for a large breed puppy can lead to abnormal or fast growth that leads to issues such as hip dyplasia. Protein does not make your dog grow faster, it supports the muscle growth to keep them lean if they are active (just like humans). We've been feeding Hines Large Puppy formula and the vet has zero complaints about his weight and growth. And he is on the smaller side. We are also new to this but my understanding is that OES are slow developers meaning it can take 2+ years for them to fully grow up and out. The breeder said she kept her two on puppy food for 1 to 1 1/2 years. The vet said it would be our preference on what we are comfortable with. He is 8 months old, no issues with stool, not anymore hyperactive than a normal puppy, not overweight, and my plan is to keep him on the puppy food for at least a year and half because that is what I feel comfortable with. That being said, there are a lot of other issues such as free feeding v scheduled, how much food (caloric intake) v how much excerise (caloric burn) that I think weigh in more than puppy v adult food.

When we took Dahlia to our vet last Monday for her 1st visit, I asked about the puppy vs. adult food. My vet suggested that we not keep her on puppy food past 6 months. She even suggested by 4 months that we move her to adult food since at 8 weeks she was already 20lbs. She said there is plenty of nutrients in adult food and it is completely fine for a puppy. We are currently feeding her Science Diet Large Breed Puppy food bec/ that is what the breeder was feeding her. Her stools are fine and she has no problems so far at 9 weeks. I will keep her on this for awhile and then consider switching to something else when she gets a little older. For now, my philosophy is.... if it isn't causing her issues, then don't change anything! So far so good! We have introduced her to Wellness puppy treats, old mother hubbard puppy treats, cheerios and sticks, dirt, leaves etc (lol)

In dog food labels, there can be a lot of confusion. All dogs foods fall into 1 of 3 catagories

There are ALS stages food, that have more calories than many puppy(growth) foods and also keep the calcium % to an acceptable range for large and giant breed dogs. Innova adult has about 500calories per cup and a calcium 1.2%. Innova regular puppy is about 450calories per cup and a calcium 1.1%. Innova LB puppy is 350calories per cup and calcium of .9%

A person could feed the Innova Adult(ALS) to a puppy, keeping the calcium below the recommended max of 1.5%, feed less each meal and save about 5-10 dollars per bag. Or feed the regular puppy food still feed a tad less save a couple of bucks and be comfortably in the calcium range. Regular puppy also has the lowest level of carbs of the three and to really confuse things, the Innova puppy is classifed as an All Life Stages food.

Know this didn't help--just an example of how bloody confusing things can be. So my rec., to customers is find something with the correct CA %(in this case), made with lotsa meat proteins and feed to bowel tolerance, activity level and general appearance--not getting fat and not getting ribby.